As expected, Ian Kinsler is back in the Tigers lineup, having passed the concussion protocol today with no symptoms following his baseball activity yesterday. He’s back in the leadoff spot.
The one guy getting a day off after the late-night travel back from Minnesota is catcher James McCann. He’s 3-for-17 with seven strikeouts for his career against Royals starter Danny Duffy. Jarrod Saltalamacchia has just three at-bats against the lefty, but two of them are home runs. It’s not a big enough sample size that Saltalamacchia would’ve played regardless, manager Brad Ausmus indicated, but it presented an opportunity for McCann to get a day off this series with righties coming up the next two days and a quick turnaround from night game to day game.